


Deliverance

by Vituperative_cupcakes



Category: Pet Shop of Horrors
Genre: implied molestation, mentions of abuse, misogynistic language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-11
Updated: 2015-07-30
Packaged: 2018-04-08 18:01:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4314936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vituperative_cupcakes/pseuds/Vituperative_cupcakes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Colin wanted to get a dog that would protect his daughter from anything.  He didn't realize what exactly that would entail.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The alarm went off, but Colin didn't so much as crack an eyelid. He waited for the bedroom door to creak open, for light footsteps to trace the floor, for the end of the bed to depress and then erupt with sudden tremors.

“M _orningdaddymorningdaddymorningdaddy_!” Harmony shrieked.

Then Colin pretended to snap out of a deep sleep and feigned shock. “Harm? You've gotten so big! How long was I asleep?”

Harmony giggled, twiddling one foot on the floor. Her dark blonde hair nearly hid her face, her slate blue eyes peeking out naughtily.

Then Colin roared like an angry bear, and Harmony squealed and screamed and tried to get away. He chased her to the kitchen, where he braided her hair as oatmeal simmered on the stove.

“Don't forget, Harmonica,” he said, “after school you're coming with Mrs. Guerrero. You know the passcode?”

Harmony, having gone this routine for endless mornings, nodded eagerly.

“You know to watch out? You have your checklist?”

Harmony nodded, yanking the braid out of his hand so it mussed and he had to start again. He spooned her oatmeal into a bowl to cool, and she polished his badge until it shone.

He watched her in the rear view mirror on the way to school, her face buoyantly happy. It made him ache inside. He watched her as she disappeared up the school steps.

His cell phone buzzed. The caller id showed Hope Grieves.

He flicked it open.

“Not one word, you whore,” he snarled into the mouthpiece.

There was the hiccup of someone taking an upset breath.

“Don't even fucking talk to me,” Colin said, “you wanted to lawyer up? Fine. But I'm not talking to your lying face in the meantime.

“Colin, please—”

Colin shut the phone and took the car out of park.

 

The chief looked over the perp report. “Hay-zeus christo, what a piece of work this guy is.”

“Cop killers always are, chief,” Alvarez put in.

Colin made a smooching face behind his back. Someone stifled a giggle.

“I'm glad we're all feeling confident today,” the chief drolly intoned, “but this guy represents a real threat to the station. Particularly cops who live in the city. Am I right, Tudesco, Mahoney?”

both men nodded.

“Norris?”

the motorcycle cop nodded, her sleek ponytail gleaming in the fluorescent light.

“Grieves?”

Colin felt his ears go warm. He tried to tamp the anger down before it showed its face.

“Not worried, chief,” he said tightly, “cowards like that only go after people who can't fight back.”

Someone scoffed, so gently he almost didn't hear it. Almost. His blood went up a few degrees.

“Look, we all know your stance on scumbags,” the chief said wearily, “too goddamn well. But I want you to take measures to protect yourself—”

“Already have, chief. I have a two-part password system with my daughter, and she's escorted everywhere.”

He thought he heard a snicker. He tried to convince himself he hadn't. God. He really wanted the meeting to end. He needed to go punch something.

“That's all well and good, but what kind of security system do you have in place at home?” Alvarez asked, craning round in his chair.

Colin swallowed. He tried not to let dislike show in his eyes. “I lock my doors.”

“Yes, but what if they get in?”

Colin kept a poker face. “Well then, _I'm_ in there, aren't I?”

The other cops did burst into laughter. Let them laugh.

The chief waved away their snickers. “Grieves, this isn't just about you. I run a good team here. When one of the cells are compromised, all the cells are. You follow?”

“Yes, I finished bio 101, chief.”

The older man squinted, frowning. “Grieves, my man. I think you need to get yourself a dog.”

 

“Look, all I'm saying is, a dog is a good investment,” Tudesco wheedled from the passenger seat. “Plus the kid would really like it.”

Colin felt the nerve in his neck twitch. He hated it when people tried to tell him what to do with Harmony, even when they meant well like Eddie.

“I don't think I can stand to have a yappy mutt shitting up my house. Plus, our deposit gets forfeit at floor damage.”

“That it? Geez, I thought it would be something more personal, like it was a dog that gave you that,” and Tudesco pointed to the flurry of scar tissue on Colin's wrist.

Colin automatically pulled his sleeve down to cover it, before realizing that would just call more attention to it. “I just don't like 'em, okay? And no dog would be worth it.”

Tudesco fished a piece of paper from his front pocket. He searched the cab of the car for a pen, nearly elbowing Colin in the gut. Colin grunted.

“Hey!”

Tudesco held up a finger. “Hang on, just—” he scribbled something on the paper and triumphantly presented it to Colin. “There! In case you change your mind.”

Colin rolled to a stop and Tudesco got out.

“See you 'round, man,” Colin said, pocketing the paper. But instead of leaving, Tudesco sat with his elbows on the window frame.

“I wish you'd consider it, Col. That's a beautiful little girl you got there.”

Colin could feel the anger flooding in, could do nothing to stop it. “What do you mean by that?”

Tudesco's suntanned face creased in a grin. “How old is she now, five? Six? She's gotta be big by now. I bet she's pretty. Bet she looks more like her mama every—”

Colin peeled out of there, tires squealing in agony.

Tudesco called behind him, in an ever-fading echo: “I didn't mean anything, Col, I was...”

He drove around the city, letting his anger out into his driving. He couldn't have anger when he went to pick Harmony up. He could never do that.

When he sat at a red light, it occurred to him to look at just what Tudesco had written down.

The paper was badly crumpled, but he could still make out an address. And the name _D's Pet Shop_.

The light turned green. He put his turn signal on.

 


	2. Chapter 2

Chinatown. What a loopy place to have a pet shop. And what would they have, some shivering little Lhasa Apso? Harmony would probably explode from happiness, but there was no way he'd get a yappy little dog like that.

Oh, hell, the trip would cool him down.

He parked and got out. The street-stall proprietors almost immediately vanished. Colin snorted. Everyone could smell the cop on him. Oh well, if the pet shop owner had nothing to hide, he had no reason to be afraid.

The end of the block had these intricate carved gates, like something out of Indiana Jones. He thought he had accidentally overshot his mark and come to the end of Chinatown, but then he checked the paper. Those  _were_ the gates to the pet shop.

He had to ogle them for a while. Whatever was in there was probably above his pay grade.

He almost turned back. He would have turned back, but his phone buzzed and when he checked it, it showed his wife's name again.

Colin pushed the doors open and went in.

 

“Greetings! I have the parakeets right here. And this time I hope you've retired the nonstick frying pans.”

Colin stopped in his tracks. “Excuse me?”

Someone with shoulder-length black hair peeked around a corner and squinted. “You're not my 3:00.”

Colin could tell from the voice the shop owner was male. But man, he was pretty for a guy.

“I just—” he said, taking a step forward and landing a foot square on a bundle of squealing fur.

The man's face fell. “Pon-chan!”

Colin hurriedly lifted up his foot, revealing a raccoon that scrambled away.

“Shit, sorry,” he said, “wait, those aren't legal pets—”

The man marched up to Colin, only coming up to his chin.

“Pon-chan isn't a _pet_ ,” he said icily, “and if you are quite done stepping on my animals, I would like to show you the door.”

Colin held up his hands. “Wait! I'm sorry, I really am.” He put just enough feeling in his voice to sound convincing.

The man tilted his head back to peer at Colin. He was odd-eyed, like a Husky. He also wore an elaborate Chinese gown. The overall effect was offputting.

“Are you?” he asked coolly. Then, without waiting for an answer: “I am D, what can I do for you?”

Colin chewed down his anger, which had begun to flare up again. “I...need a dog.”

D waited with clasped hands, a look of expectation smoothing his pretty features. “Well?”

“Well what?”

“What purpose will the dog serve?”

“Oh. Home protection. Actually, this is kinda dumb, I protect my home well enough on my own, I don't need—“

“What exactly do you need to protect in your home? Perhaps valuables would be better locked in a safe?”

Colin laughed. “No, my treasure is better than gold.” he opened his wallet. “Here, these pictures are a few years old, but my Harmony is gorgeous.”

D glanced skeptically over the pictures. “Why?”

Colin felt his smile fade. “Well, some would say she gets it from her dad.”

“No, why don't you have any current pictures?”

Colin bit his tongue. He couldn't really say that it was because he didn't have any. Because he did. They papered the walls at home.

He closed his wallet again. “I guess I just don't.”

“Hmm.” D's lack of expression made it impossible to tell whether he believed it or not.

Colin pocketed the wallet and shrugged mightily. “Anyway, I want to protect my little girl at all costs.”

“At all costs,” D echoed. He seemed to be thinking.

“Follow me.”

He walked so smoothly out of the room he seemed to float. Colin followed, stumbling through the darkness.

 

D peppered him with questions as he struggled through the halls. “Is there no one else at your house to protect?”

Colin coughed and waved away thick smoke. It clung like cobwebs to the hallways, made directions hard to fathom.

“No I'm–my wife and I are separated, seeking a divorce. She cheated on me.”

Colin swallowed. That was one sentence more than he'd mean to say.

“Ah.” and then, “Harmony? An odd name for a child.”

“Well, I wanted to name her Grace, but Hope pushed for Harmony until she got her way. I snuck Grace in the middle, though. Grace Grieves. Like my sister.”

“You have a sister?”

Colin stopped. He really, really hadn't meant to say that last part.

“Had,” he said slowly, and then to distract D: “are we going to be there soon?”

“Oh, soon. You say 'had.' did something happen to her?”

“I had a little sister,” Colin rambled, trying to run his mouth in the opposite direction, “and an older brother. Luke was his name. He tried to pick up where my dad left off, and he left off quite a bit. Luke practically raised—” he made himself stop and swallowed.

D appeared in the darkness, face like a porcelain mask. “So I can assume Grace Harmony is your only family at the moment, correct?”

Colin was sweating. “It's actually Harmony Grace. And yeah.”

“Well,” D said, pushing open a hidden panel, “let's see if we can expand that family, shall we?”

 


	3. Chapter 3

The room was hot and crowded. What seemed like hundreds of furry bodies populated the room, running, lounging, giving each other tongue baths.

Colin gaped. He had never seen a pet shop do this.

“Don't you worry about them attacking each other?”

D was kneeling, murmuring in a doberman's ear. He stood up to answer Colin's question.

“They all know the rules,” he said breezily, as if talking about tenants instead of animals. “Let me show you my shepherds.”

There were Australian shepherds with eyes as blue as Harmony's, Samoyeds that moved slower than glaciers and twice as white, perky cattle dogs, and even a corgi or two. Colin laughed at their stumpy legs.

“That's not going to scare a perp away.”

“Perp?” D was bemused.

“Burglar. Whatever. I need a big, scary dog.”

He searched the room for one. He saw one particular specimen who had not stirred from its couch in all the excitement, a big buff-colored dog who licked a paw before resettling itself. He pointed. “What about that one?”

D laughed. “A Maremma? Unless you are protecting your Wagyu from bandits, I'd advise another dog.”

Colin felt stubbornness set in. “I want to see that one. He looks good.” He picked his way across the room, stepping between bodies. Occasionally, his foot found a tail or a paw and he was rewarded with a yelp.

The dog seemed unimpressed at his approach, barely batting an eye. Colin turned back to see that D was walking through a path in the bodies that cleared before him and closed up after. Weird.

“This one,” he said, pointing.

“I am not deaf, dear customer. I know specifically which dog you selected. That is a Maremma shepherd, which is bred to guard livestock.”

“Cool. I want it.”

“How much?”

“Well, I live on a cop's salary...”

“No,” D said patiently, “how much acreage do you live on?”

Colin paused, and then burst into laughter. “Man, I live in an apartment!”

D was shaking his head. “Then this will be totally unfitting for you. This dog needs a minimum of five acres to roam around. It is not a house dog. It was bred to watch livestock. Its genetic programming is so absolute it will guard the livestock from anything. Sometimes even its owner. Do you see what I'm saying?”

Colin looked at the dog. Its eyes were closed and it lazily batted an ear. “This mutt? He doesn't look too frisky right now.”

“That's because he's just finished exercising,” D said, a mite testily, “this animal would be a very bad fit for you. The dog would be unhappy, and you would be unhappy once he gets bored and starts chewing through your doors. They do not do well in confined spaces. They do not do well with children. This would be a terrible decision and you would regret making it.”

Colin wasn't listening. He was staring at the dog.

“You say he'd protect his charge at all costs?” Colin asked, “well that's what I need. He'll protect Harmony. That's all I want.”

D growled and rolled his eyes, tossing off a few choice Chinese phrases under his breath, ending with ' _gwai lo_ .' He straightened up. “There's something else. The dog comes with...a friend.”

As if summoned, a tiny Siamese wound its way out from behind the dog. It yawned, pink tongue curling. Then it ascended the white mountain of fur and kneaded it, the dog paying it no mind, and curled up in a tight knot. Colin thought it was a bit cute until he cause sight of its staring, dead white left eye.

“Ugh. No thanks.”

“That was not an offer, that was a statement,” D said. “the dog goes nowhere without the cat. It the cat does not go, the dog does not.”

“What's the story, the cat stole his nutsack?” Colin laughed.

“No. The two animals were, until recently, in the possession of an abusive owner. A deeply violent man who beat them both. Where the cat got her eye injury, in fact.”

Colin's laugh petered out. The cat lifted its head and stared accusingly, one eye a flat blue, the other white as mold.

“So, there's no dog without kitty?”

D smugly shook his head.

“Well then, I just hope it doesn't give Harm nightmares.”

D had crossed his arms, now he slowly let them drop. “You...you will take them?”

“Is that a problem?”

D looked at the animals. The dog napped peacefully. The cat curled atop its friend, tail tucked to nose.

“I suppose not,” he finally sighed.

 

There was a seedy-looking contract, and guidelines he only half-heard. The whole thing was very foggy in his mind, too much of that damn incense smoke. Colin drove away wondering if he had just been scammed. Hell, it probably wasn't even a Maremma, probably just some mutt D had bullshitted him into accepting. Great. Just great. Well, if it acted up, it was straight to the pound for both of them.

Harmony was playing in the yard when Colin pulled up and beeped the horn twice. “Hey, bodily Harm!”

“Daddy!” she squealed. She left a messy game of freeze tag to come barreling at the car. Althea Guerrero, who took her on Tuesdays, came up behind her and patted her hair.

“Sweetie, you mind if me and daddy talk?”

Harmony shrugged and launched herself back at the house to gather her toys and say goodbye. Althea watched her go with a smile. “What a girl.”

Colin smiled tightly. “That's my Harmony.”

Althea seemed to be struggling with a decision. “There's...something. I don't know. It's not really a big deal.”

Colin felt cold all over. “Nothing's too small a deal to me.”

Althea sighed and looked up, as if finding a script on the clouds. “There's this...boy.”

“The Hendricks kid? We've dealt with him before.”

Althea held up a hand. “It's nothing too bad. I think he just likes her too much. But he follows her around everywhere, and keeps putting his arms around her. Lots of little boys do it.”

“Oh yeah, Colin said, watching Harmony, “I know.”

“It's really a matter for the parents to discuss. He's not being mean, he just needs to be taught when enough is enough.”

Colin nodded, not trusting his own voice. He couldn't relax until Harmony was securely in the back seat. He stepped on the gas and left the house behind.

“There's something on the seat for you, baby.”

Harmony scrabbled at the paper on her present, revealing a bike helmet with ribbon streamers and _'daddy's girl_ ' in pink text. She crowed.

“Oh daddy, thank you!”

Colin adjusted the rearview mirror so he could see her and snuck glances at her all the way home.

 


	4. Chapter 4

Something was different when Colin opened the door. It wasn't anything he could put his finger on, but his hackles immediately went up. He was about to tell Harmony to wait in the car when she pelted past him screaming, “ _doggyyyyyyyyyy_!”

She latched onto a mountain of white fluff that piled lazily in the middle of the floor. The Maremma blinked sleepily. Horror trickled down Colin's spine. He drew his revolver and canvassed the room. No signs of break-in or forced entry. Had they levered a window? He didn't feel right checking the house and leaving Harmony in the living room.

Harmony—

He quickly turned back to find her pulling on the dog's ears.

“Sad doggy,” she said, pulling them down, “angry doggy,” she pulled them up.

The Maremma blinked.

“Harmony, sweetie, that doggy doesn't like getting its ears pulled.”

Harmony dropped the ears with a pout. The dog certainly didn't seem angry, but maybe it just didn't tense before it bit. Colin was creeping over, trying to get his hand around the girl to ease her away, when Harmony's eyes lit up and she dashed for her room. Colin nearly had a heart attack.

“Baby!”

Harmony came racing back, purple princess brush in her hand.

“Here, Mr. dog,” she said primly, “I'll brush your hair.”

The Maremma sat stoic through two pulls of the brush, then it yawned and settled down to sleep again.

Colin let out a breath. He felt sure enough that he left her with the dog and made a short tour of the house. All the windows were locked, the back door sensibly bolted. Colin nudged a shade aside with the nose of his gun. All quiet in the neighborhood.

He went back to the living room and instructed Harmony not to move. He grabbed his phone and dialed Tudesco.

“Hello?” Colin could hear a football game in the background.

“The fuck you trying to pull on me, Tudesco? I didn't think you were that big of an asshole, you trying to get me killed?”

“Whoa, whoa, slow down.” There was a clink, like someone set a beer bottle down. “What's all this you're spitting in my ear?”

“That—pet shop, the stupid—D!” He didn't care if he was making sense, he was angry. Tudesco's suddenly cheerful tone did not help.

“Oh, the pet shop, how was he? It's where I got Matt that gerbil, it's the cutest little—”

“They broke into my fucking house,” Colin cut in, “they compromised my security, how is this supposed to help me?”

“D? Naw, that guy's straight up professional. Did they take anything?”

“No, they left a dog.”

“A dog?”

“Yeah. I bought a dog.”

There was a beat. Then Tudesco laughed. “You sound pretty uptight for someone who just had a purchase get delivered.”

Red was hazing his vision. Colin just managed to spit out, “fuck you Tudesco,” before he threw the phone. Then he went to punch the sack of potatoes in the kitchen. After the first punch landed, he heard a deep booming bark, and then the Maremma nosed into the room looking far more alert than it had been. Harmony followed it.

“Daddy, why are you punching potatoes?”

Colin hunched, elbows on his knees, breathing deep. “Just making mashed potatoes, string bean. Why don't you go wash up?”

He heard another scream as he was culling the bruised potatoes. He ran to the bathroom, to find the dog nonchalantly overlooking Harmony squeezing the Siamese.

“Oh daddy, you got me a cat too? It's not even my birthday!”

Colin laughed, wiping his face, willing his hands to stop shaking. The Siamese did not look happy to be squeezed, but it did look like it would lash out or anything. Colin didn't let her out of his sight after that.

Harmony sat at the table, dog at her feet, cat primly perched on the neighboring chair. Colin ate standing at the counter so he could watch her.

“So what do you want to call her?”

Harmony chewed, making a funny face, before answering. “Grace,” she said, “like me.”

Colin tried to smile through the cold that rolled over his body. “That's...a good name.”

“What will you name the doggy?”

“I bought them for you, why don't you name him?”

Harmony rolled her eyes. “Everyone knows that dogs are for boys and cats are for girls.”

“How do they know that?”

“Because all dogs are boys and all cats are girls, duh.”

Colin just had to laugh and shake his head.

 

That night he slept on the floor of her bedroom.

He had a nightmare. He had them a lot, but this one was about his brother Luke. He hadn't had one of those in a while.

Luke's already blonde hair was ghost-white in the dream. He and Grace had inherited mama's hair. Colin was a brunette like their father.

Luke was sitting on Colin's chest so he couldn't breathe. He held Colin's arms down, saying he couldn't let Colin up until, _until_ —

Colin woke to find the Maremma laying across him. It was the weight of a human body. Colin managed to roll the thing off, but the dog also farted for good measure. Colin coughed and covered his mouth, looking around.

The Siamese was up on Harmony's bed, on her pillow, in fact. She wasn't on Harmony's head but was sitting just above it, glaring down at him. The sight was unsettling. Colin tried to ignore it and go back to sleep.

 

He woke up from Harmony stepping on his face. She yawned. “Sorry dad. I need to pee.”

Colin looked out the window to find dawn just beginning to lighten the sky. It couldn't be later than 5:30. He groaned and threw an arm over his face. Great. He would probably get back to sleep by the time he had to go to work.

He shifted and looked out the bedroom door, just in time to see Luke waft down the hall after Harmony.

Colin froze. He had prepared for moments like these, practicing over and over again what he would do. But training failed him and cold dread stilled his limbs. His voice cracked as he called out: “Harm?”

“Just a minute, daddy.” He heard the toiled flush. The banal nature of the noise galvanized him and he rose up—

Just in time to see Harmony pad back from the bathroom, rubbing her eyes, dog in tow.

Colin listened, but the hall was silent.

Harmony got back into bed. “What was it, daddy?”

“Honey, did you see—” what? What had he really seen? What had he summoned up from the dregs of a nightmare, the afterimage of his brother pasted on a dog?

“Nothing, sweet pea.” He kissed her forehead.

He sat up until it was time for school.

 


	5. Chapter 5

Tudesco eyed Colin warily as he strode in. Colin made a beeline for the chief's office and requested a partner transfer.

The chief sighed and held a hand over his eyes. “This is the third time this year, Grieves. Better make it good.”

“He compromised my security, sir. He referred me to an individual who broke into my home last night.”

He told about the pet shop, leaving out the strange dialog with the shop owner. The chief's eyebrows climbed his forehead, then suddenly settled in a flat line.

“Grieves,” he said, “I want to like you. I really do. You're not a bad guy when you're not roughing up a suspect. But you give me more trouble than the rest of the department combined. And when you compromise your own security and then blame it on your partner—“

“He referred me to the creep!”

“—who's got fifteen good years of service under his belt, may I add, I have to start asking questions. The first being: are you sure you're suited to this line of work?”

Colin blinked rapidly. His eyes were watering and he couldn't control it.

“Sir,” he said stonily, and rose from his chair.

“I'll get someone on a b&e, but there's not a whole lot to go on.”

Colin knew enough not to let the door slam shut mid sentence, but he kept his back turned to the chief.

Tudesco called, “buddy, you okay?”

Colin walked stiffly to his desk and filled out paperwork.

 

He had the throbbing beginnings of a migraine when he pulled into the school. And then he saw the boy.

Jack or James or Jeff. Something beginning with a J. Funny-looking kid. His ears stuck out and his front teeth were so big he could barely close his mouth. As if to add insult to injury, his face was splattered with freckles. He was chasing Harmony around with a dopey grin on his face. Harmony's face was screwed up crankily, Colin could hear her call “stooop, _stooop_ ,” as the boy chased her around. He undid his seat belt.

The look on the kid's face was one of pure, unadulterated terror. Harmony had just enough time to say “daddy?” before Colin's hand fell like a lead weight on the kid's shoulder.

“ _You don't touch my daughter,_ ” he hissed, “ _you don't_ _ **ever**_ _fucking touch my daughter, do you hear me? There's a place in jail for boys like you, you little shit_.”

The boy's face wobbled, as he was too frightened to cry. Colin felt a tug on his arm and realized it was Harmony.

“Daddy,” she said, near tears, “stop.”

Colin let go of the boy's shoulder and he fell to his elbows and knees. Colin took a deep breath and then swept up Harmony and ran to the car. He buckled her in and then dashed for the driver's side. He took a covert look around. No one else seemed to be near the playground, but he could see the parents driving up on the other side of the lot. Colin put distance between him and the school.

It was only when he pulled up to the stoplight near their home that Colin could take a breath.

“Have a good day at school, kiddo?” he called. He adjusted the mirror so that her tear-streaked faced swam into focus.

“Why did you do that?” she whimpered. She wiped her tears away with one wrist. “He wasn't hurting me, he was just gross. Why'd you say potty words to him? He didn't hurt me.”

He struggled to steady his voice as he said, “baby, sometimes boys like to do bad things.”

She dawdled the hair next to her mouth. “Like pushing girls down?”

“No worse. Bad things. Naughty things. Things that can really hurt.”

In her puzzlement, Harmony appeared to forget her anger. “Like pulling out their hair?”

Colin had to laugh, but it came out too sharp. “No. They hurt them real bad, but it doesn't leave a mark, see? Like when you poke a finger and blood comes out? Imagine if someone poked your finger and it didn't bleed. It still hurt, but there was no blood. No one would believe you.”

“Oh.” Harmony settled back into her seat. “that wouldn't happen.”

“It does, sweet pea, it happens to a lot of w....girls.”

“No, Mrs. Han would believe me. She says, no matter how it looks, she will always believe us.”

“And I would believe you,” Colin said hurriedly, “but not a lot of other people would. And they would think you were a liar. Boys like him grow up to do things like that all the time. They hurt girls and don't get punished because no one believes them.”

“Jake's not like that,” Harmony said.

Colin shook his head. “No, sweetie, he is. Daddy knows.”

“Were you like that, daddy?”

Colin tensed so that he nearly hit the car in front of him. “Daddy busts the bad men, baby, that's why he's a cop.”

Harmony was silent for the rest of the drive.

 

He had another nightmare that night. He was looking for Grace, she always hid out in the fields behind the house, but he knew if he couldn't find her something bad would happen. Suddenly Luke appeared before him. He'd been crouching in the long grass, hiding, and now he grabbed so Colin couldn't get away.

Luke's pale skin was dotted with acne, his nineteen-year-old fingers had a firm grip on Colin's shoulder.

Where was Grace? Where was Grace?

Colin tried to say he was looking for her, but now Luke shook him. Colin needed to tell him where Grace was or there would be trouble, big trouble.

Tears clouded Colin's eyes. He wanted to say _leave me alone_ , but it only came out as a thin wail. He wasn't big in this dream, he wasn't a cop. He was thirteen and skinny, his bruised arms had no muscles. He wailed, snot-nosed, as he clawed at Luke's hand. _Lemee 'lone, lemee 'lone_ —

He woke up on the floor. The sheet tangled around him and made getting up difficult. The back of his head hurt, and his body was stiff and tense. He stretched, trying to chase the ache from his muscles. He turned to the doorway and saw Luke watching him—

no.

Colin shook his head. There was no Luke. He was a grown man in his own house with his own daughter.

He raced to check on her.

The bedroom door was open just a crack. Funny. Harmony was afraid of the dark, always slept with the door wide open and the bathroom light on. Colin pushed it open with a finger.

A low growl met him.

Through the little ambient light, Colin could just make out the ghost-shape of the Maremma, hackles up. The cat was by Harmony's head again, the dead white moon of its eye accusing him. He could imagine the cat putting out its little paw and unsheathing its claws and slashing her throat.

He pushed the door open another inch. The dog growled again. Colin could tell that it was him and him alone that set the dog off. Well, at least the dog was doing its job.

Colin took a pissand went back to sleep.

 


	6. Chapter 6

That Jake kid wasn't at school the next day. Colin had a statement prepared for the parents if they decided to press the issue, peppered with statistics about repeat sexual offenders. Maybe the kid was too frightened to tell on him. Good.

Tudesco stopped trying to speak to him after a while. He was granted a transfer, and no partner replaced him. The chief kept Colin on desk duty. Colin would watch the scumbags they brought in and envision smashing eyesockets, skulls, femurs.

The animals took to Harmony. They really took to her. In fact, he could hardly touch his own daughter without them giving some attitude. He didn't name the dog, and Harmony refused, so it was simply 'dog.'

Colin saw Luke walking behind Harmony, guiding her through the other children at the park with big-brotherly concern. No. He saw the Maremma, its big white tail rippling like a flag. It let the preschoolers grab onto its fur good-naturedly. Maybe D had lied about it being bad around kids. The only person it didn't really care for was Colin.

God. It made him feel like that guy in the story about the cat. He walled his wife in or something? Colin couldn't really remember how it went, besides the fact that the guy went batshit at the end. Colin could go batshit. He didn't feel welcome in his own damn home, that was the problem. Anyone would go a little nuts at that.

He asked after the Jake kid after school one day. Harmony buckled her seat belt, looking sternly at her father in the mirror.

“His parents pulled him out. He's homeschool now.”

Colin nodded, satisfied.

That night he had another nightmare.

 

Daddy had whupped him. The reason didn't matter. Daddy could find a reason at the bottom of a shot glass. Colin was walking with his smarting bottom. Luke was locked up in his room, playing rock music, ignoring the world in a teenager way.

Grace was playing in the dust with her trucks. Daddy left her alone, said she looked too much like her momma. So much it hurt. Grace was starved for attention because of it. And pretty because she had no bruises or a burn scar like Luke's. So pretty it hurt.

Everyone thought of Grace. Luke only thought about himself. So who thought about Colin? Who looked after Colin?

Nobody, that's who. Nobody cared, nobody liked him because he looked like their asshole father, nobody smiled at him but Grace, little Grace who didn't really understand anything—

Pain in his hand woke him. Colin realized that he had been sleepwalking. The pain was the Maremma, sinking its long white teeth in his hand.

He was right outside Harmony's room.

He tried to twist his hand out of the dog's mouth, but the dog snarled, showing thick muscles in its jaw. The thing could bite. Colin took a calming breath and stepped back. The dog's hold slackened. He took another. The dog moved with him. Colin slowly walked backward to his room, guided by the dog. Once he was on the threshold, the dog relinquished its hold and trotted back down the hall, nosing Harmony's door shut behind him.

Colin stood in his bedroom, just breathing.

 

Of course, he could have gone for some kind of counseling. Even he could admit this wasn't normal. But then Hope would win custody, the department would fire him because they'd know how bad things really were, and his life would collapse.

Sometimes, as he watched his brother ghost down the hall, he thought it really might have been worth the risk. Because he couldn't stop seeing Luke.

He tried looking up the shop(he had lost the paper days ago) but it was nowhere in the phone book. Without an address he had to drive around Chinatown, hoping to strike it lucky. He never did.

 

A thick stack of papers hit his desk.

“More b&e's? He asked, doodling on a post-it note.

“Naw, man. You've been served.”

Colin dropped his pen.

Hope was suing for custody. The lying, unfaithful bitch thought she had a right to his daughter. Colin could feel himself go red as he sifted through the file. “Rage issues” popped up frequently, as did “potential for violence.” Bull-fucking-shit. He had never hit Hope's lying face, even when she'd held the front door and refused to let him in the house. Sure, he'd shoved the door, and if Hope had hit the floor that was her own fault for not moving. He hadn't noticed, he had been too busy picking up Harmony and her diaper bag and going back to the car, Hope snatching at the toddler's hands the whole time.

Alvarez shook his head, whistling low. “Looks ugly, man. My advice? Get a good attorney.”

Colin flipped him off and left his desk.

Harmony was at the Guererros. Colin was calm as he thought it through. He got a half-day because of a death in the family. Father? No, a great-uncle or some shit like that. A parent's death would invite too many questions. He had to collect Harmony and bring her with him to the funeral. Hopefully the lawyer didn't know his routine, wouldn't have called the Guerrero household already.

He pulled up to the house and honked the horn.

Althea came out in yoga pants and an old t-shirt with paint stains. She seemed confused.

Colin put on his winning smile. “Came to collect the bug.”

Althea shook her head. “Your...your brother already collected her.”

It was like everything around Colin froze. The sprinkler on the lawn lay suspended in big globules. Kids playing on the street were frozen mid-scream. His heart slowed and then paused between hammer-thuds.

Colin took a mighty swallow. “I don't have a brother.”

Althea looked to be in the beginnings of dread. “But...he looked just like you. Except the hair, of course. And he knew the code, Harmony even was happy to see him—”

Colin's back tires threw rocks at the house as he raced out of there.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Who was it? The lawyer? No, Harmony wouldn't know him. The same with Hope's new squeeze. Maybe one of the other cops? ...no, Harmony knew who they were, and none of them looked a thing like him.

He decided to swing by home. God, maybe he could call everyone in the department, ask if they had seen her.

The front door was wide open.

 


	7. Chapter 7

Colin parked, not caring if he was in a legal spot, not caring if someone came and stole the keys from the ignition.

The apartment was dark. The lights were all off and, when he tried the switch, burnt out. The shades were drawn too.

“Harmony!” he called, sick worry muting his voice.

He heard a small sound. He dashed in its direction—down the main hall—calling, calling.

“Harmony! Baby, sweetie, sugar!”

He didn't notice until far too late that the hall was stretching on too long, or that the nature of the darkness had changed. It was not the dim of daytime shade. It was the dark of real night.

He slowed. He could smell summer grass suddenly and had a sickening premonition of where he was.

There was a door at the end of the hall that should have been the door to his bedroom, but when he touched it, it was the rough wood of a barn. He pushed it open.

He was home.

Here was the field where he'd gone to fly kites, where he'd lifted up rocks to look for bugs. He stepped, unsteady, into the past.

The grass was hissing in the night breeze. There was a mist on the ground that reminded him of the incense smoke from the pet shop. Colin walked into the night, unblinking, unbelieving.

Something long and pale sat up from the long grass in front of him.

“Colin,” Luke said, “what did you do?”

He was on the other side of the field, Colin could just barely make him out. Instead of screaming Colin felt the beginning tremors of a sob hit him.

“I didn't,” he gasped, “ I didn't do anything. Give her back.”

Luke swayed in the wind. “What did you do? What did you do to her?”

Colin scrubbed his tears with the hem of his shirt. This was ridiculous. Why was he crying?

“I didn't do nothing!” he shouted, and it came out _nuttin'_ , just like it did when he was a child. “I didn't! I didn't hurt her, I swear! There's not a mark on her!”

The grass hissed accusingly at him.

“What did you do?” Luke said, “ _what did you do, you little shit_?”

A sob suddenly burst from Colin's throat. “I didn't mean to, I promise, Luke. I won't do it again.” Tears thinned his voice until it went back to its prepubescent octaves.

Luke's voice stabbed accusingly through the dark. “What did you do to Grace? Why couldn't you just leave her alone?”

Colin blinked. “I didn't—I won't do it again, I promise. I love her so much, just give her back, it'll be better this time I promise—”

“No. No more chances. You don't get another chance to hurt someone.”

“Fuck you,” Colin gasped, because he couldn't scream, no, it was just like a nightmare, “ _fuck you, you're dead! You're lying in a field where I left you, you're lying flat on your back with blood on your head where I hit you, you fucking—_ ”

Luke suddenly disappeared. Colin gasped, throat raw from crying.

“Luke?” he called tremulously.

There was no answer.

Colin ventured closer. “Luke?”

Where Luke had been, there was a gleaming whiteness in the grass. It was the dog, on its side.

Colin looked at it and something broke in his head. He laughed. He laughed until he had to sit down. He laughed and it sounded like crying. He laughed curled up with his knees to his chest.

A thin noise curled into his ears like a sleepy kitten.

Oh. That's right.

He rocked back to his feet.

He called for Harmony. He called olly-olly-oxen free, hide-and-seek was done and daddy lost, Harmony had to come get her crown!

There was the old pump, and there, peeking out of the mist, was a girl with long gold hair.

Colin sobbed with relief. “Harm—”

The girl sat up. And she was not Harmony.

Grace stared at him, still beautiful, still five, forever five because she had drowned herself in the trough trying to get away from him. Her right eye was slate-blue, her left was dead white in the socket.

Colin keened, all the feeling leaving his legs.

The mist was blowing away, and now he saw another figure beneath Grace, another girl. Also blonde, also young.

“Harmony,” he whimpered. His voice had long fled.

Harmony did not stir. She lay as if napping, one arm nonchalantly curled beneath her head.

Colin crept to them.

Grace was alert and watching him, hunched over her double. Colin crawled the last stretch on his hands and knees.

“Grace,” he whispered, “oh Grace, Grace. Harmony?”

The girl stirred a little. Colin put his hand out.

Grace snarled. Her teeth were so, so sharp. And her claws were like scimitars.

 

Hope Grieves pulled up to the building. Police tape was already up, the red-and-blue lights of the patrol cars made shadows dance.

An older cop noticed her and came over, holding out his hand.

“Mrs. Grieves?” he asked, “Edward Tudesco, your husband's most recent partner. I...remember you, don't know if you remember me.”

“Hi, Eddie,” Hope said, and kissed him on the cheek. Tudesco's eyes shone.

“Oh, Mrs. G,” he said, “it's...it's bad—”

“How is Harmony?” Hope broke in.

Tudesco snorted. He was toffee-nosed. “Oh she's fine, just fine. But...”

Hope nodded. “I can kind of guess what it's going to be like. When he took Harmony...I was so afraid. I was afraid he'd hurt either of us if I pursued it. That was why I waited so long. But...”

She looked over at the house. They were wheeling out a covered stretcher.

“He was...all bled out when we got here, understand? He never really had a chance.”

Hope squeezed her eyes shut and nodded fast.

“At first we thought it was the animals, but the marks just don't add up.”

“Wait, animals?” Hope furrowed her brow. “Colin hates animals. My Pomeranian bit him on the wrist and he threw it out a third-story window.”

Tudesco blanched. “Well, he was concerned about home safety...with good reason, it looks like. The only thing we can't figure out is there are no fingerprints, no signs of forced entry...”

Hope stood on her tiptoes, looking over patrol cars. “I'm sorry detective, can I see her? My daughter?”

Tudesco started. “Of course! Where's my head? I'll take you right to her.”

 

Harmony was sitting on a stretcher, regaling the paramedics with tales of her school while they took her vitals. She greeting Hope with a casual nod. Hope's heart wrenched. She knelt down.

“Harmony?” she whispered, “do you remember me?”

Harmony tilted her head this way and that, scrunched her nose up, and finally shook her head.

Hope took a gulping breath. “I'm your mommy, sweetie.”

Harmony received the news with the air of someone being informed they have a new game system.

“Cool,” she said.

Hope laughed, two tears escaping.

“And who are these brave beasts?” She asked, smiling, “your protectors?”

Harmony smiled. “Yep.” She petted one furry body. “The kitty is Grace,” she petted the other, “and the doggy is Luke.”

Hope gave her a big smile. “Well, that's just...fine.” and, because she had run out of words, she embraced her daughter.

The Maremma blinked once or twice, but did not stir from its statuesque pose beside the little girl. Fur was missing in a jagged line above its left eye, as if it had been struck long ago. The Siamese on Harmony's lap did not stir, not even to take her tail from her nose.

 


End file.
